Ilyrias, the Aegadian Isles, the developers BLOG. Your resource for information about this first game by Persistent Realms and other game development related subjects.

Wednesday, June 14, 2006

What is a good game, Part IV

In our last article we started to get into how PvP, or PK, factors into a good game.Over the next few articles we will expand upon that aspect more.In this article we will be focusing on balance and equilibrium.

In any good PvP system, it should be relatively easy to get into, but difficult to master.We have tried to incorporate this into our world.One factor of that is how to handle players actually killing each other.

There are a few different ways that games handle combat, such as the D&D style turn based system.Here at Persistent Realms, we prefer the balance style combat system.In a balance based system each attack you make takes a few seconds of balance.When you regain balance you can attack again.Many systems break this balance into Left Arm, Right Arm and Leg balance with Equilibrium added in for magical or mental attacks.We have also decided to go with this system, but have expanded upon it a little more.

We have added in the concept of minor and major balance, which allows for more flexibility and choices in combat.Minor balance is actually part of your Major balance, the last one second to be exact.If you have used your Major balance, you cannot attack or move; you must wait to regain it.If you are on Minor balance (that last second of balance), you can attempt to move with a chance of tripping.You can also choose to attack again, with a high chance to miss and increased major balance time.The exception to this rule is follow-up attacks, special attacks that naturally come after another one (for example a back-fist nicely follows up after a roundhouse punch), but that is a discussion for another article.

What does this mean to PvP combat?For the novice, they can just ignore the minor balance.For the advanced fighter, they can embrace this new addition and learn how to best use it to their advantage.Perhaps you are close to death, but you know your opponent is close to death as well.Using that minor balance, you could either choose to run, or run the risk of missing in an attempt to slay them before they can hit you again.

Another addition is that of Power Balance, which is a special kind of balance and is not affected by any others.Certain powerful moves will utilize this balance, in addition to normal balance/equilibrium.The only effect this has is that you cannot use another power move until you regain your Power balance.We are hoping this will add another dynamic to combat, while again keeping it simple enough to learn the basics.

In our next article we will expand upon the follow-up attacks, and how they will affect PvP, or PK, combat.Our goal is to add depth, without making it too complex for a novice to learn.This is not an easy feat to do, but we feel things like this accomplish that goal for our combat system.